Related Stories

A Juneau resident pleaded guilty Tuesday to possessing child pornography and is scheduled to be sentenced in March.

Nicholas V. Miller, 39, took a plea deal offered by state prosecutors during a change of plea hearing in Juneau Superior Court before Judge Philip Pallenberg. The deal allows Miller to plead guilty to one consolidated count of possession and dismisses the other counts against him, including all the counts related to distribution.

Miller was indicted in February on five counts of possession and nine counts of distribution of child pornography following a months-long multi-agency law enforcement investigation.

Prosecutors with the Office of Special Prosecutions and Appeals said officers with the Alaska Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force located a computer downloading and sharing the material, and they traced the IP address back to Miller’s computer at his Juneau residence. Law enforcement ultimately seized approximately 1,000 images and videos depicting child sexual exploitation off his computer and determined Miller had been sharing them via peer-to-peer file sharing networks, which allows people to trade pictures between their computers, for a number of years before being caught, according to an affidavit.

Miller’s prison sentence — scheduled to take place March 27 before Pallenberg — will be up to the court.

Possessing child pornography is a felony sex offense that can be punishable by up 99 years in prison, but because Miller does not have any prior convictions he will likely serve between two and 12 years in prison. He will also be required to register as a sex offender for 15 years after his release.

There have been less than five similar cases in Juneau in the past three years, Marika Athens, the statewide cyber crimes prosecutor with the Office of Special Prosecutions and Appeals, previously told the Empire.

A similar case that also involves investigating officers with the Alaska Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force was recently brought against another Juneau resident, 41-year-old Jeremy S. Deach. A Juneau grand jury indicted Deach two months ago on 30 counts of possessing and distributing child pornography via peer-to-peer file sharing networks on his home computer. That case is still pending.